Platinum-based anticancer drugs, such as cisplatin, have been extensively used to treat different types of cancer patients. Cisplatin (also referred to as cDDP) is a chemotherapy drug and was the first member of a class of platinum containing anti-cancer drugs, which now also includes carboplatin and oxaliplatin. These platinum complexes react in vivo, binding to and causing crosslinking of DNA, which ultimately triggers apoptosis.
Although more than 50% of cancer patients have been treated with platinum-based anticancer drugs, these drugs produce highly toxic side effects. In addition, many patients treated with these platinum-based anticancer drugs develop drug resistance thereto. Therefore, it is desirable to develop new anticancer agents that can be used as alternatives to the clinical chemotherapeutic drugs, such as cDDP, especially for patients after the development of chemoresistance using current drugs.